JPMorgan Chase & Co. Purchases 15,979 Shares of Standard Motor Products, Inc. (NYSE:SMP)

JPMorgan Chase & Co. raised its stake in Standard Motor Products, Inc. (NYSE:SMP - Free Report) by 37.1% in the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The firm owned 59,086 shares of the auto parts company's stock after purchasing an additional 15,979 shares during the period. JPMorgan Chase & Co. owned approximately 0.27% of Standard Motor Products worth $1,830,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Other hedge funds and other institutional investors also recently made changes to their positions in the company. EntryPoint Capital LLC bought a new position in shares of Standard Motor Products in the 4th quarter worth $327,000. Prudential Financial Inc. lifted its position in Standard Motor Products by 6.9% during the fourth quarter. Prudential Financial Inc. now owns 84,923 shares of the auto parts company's stock worth $2,631,000 after acquiring an additional 5,500 shares during the last quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. increased its position in Standard Motor Products by 4.3% during the fourth quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 1,655,886 shares of the auto parts company's stock worth $51,299,000 after acquiring an additional 69,000 shares during the period. KLP Kapitalforvaltning AS acquired a new stake in Standard Motor Products during the fourth quarter worth about $499,000. Finally, American Century Companies Inc. raised its stake in Standard Motor Products by 21.1% during the fourth quarter. American Century Companies Inc. now owns 497,258 shares of the auto parts company's stock worth $15,405,000 after acquiring an additional 86,640 shares in the last quarter. 81.26% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Insider Activity

In other news, EVP Dale Burks sold 11,005 shares of the business's stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, March 11th. The stock was sold at an average price of $27.20, for a total transaction of $299,336.00. Following the transaction, the executive vice president now directly owns 56,860 shares in the company, valued at $1,546,592. The trade was a 16.22 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available at this hyperlink. Company insiders own 5.00% of the company's stock.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Separately, StockNews.com lowered Standard Motor Products from a "strong-buy" rating to a "hold" rating in a research report on Monday, March 3rd.

Standard Motor Products Trading Up 1.1 %

Shares of NYSE:SMP traded up $0.26 on Tuesday, reaching $24.20. 49,329 shares of the company traded hands, compared to its average volume of 163,712. The business's 50-day simple moving average is $25.69 and its 200 day simple moving average is $29.64. Standard Motor Products, Inc. has a 52 week low of $21.38 and a 52 week high of $35.92. The company has a current ratio of 2.25, a quick ratio of 0.82 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.21. The stock has a market capitalization of $550.38 million, a P/E ratio of 14.99 and a beta of 0.57.

Standard Motor Products (NYSE:SMP - Get Free Report) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, February 27th. The auto parts company reported $0.47 EPS for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $0.37 by $0.10. The company had revenue of $343.35 million during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $292.50 million. Standard Motor Products had a return on equity of 10.42% and a net margin of 2.56%. As a group, equities analysts anticipate that Standard Motor Products, Inc. will post 3.08 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Standard Motor Products Announces Dividend

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, March 3rd. Investors of record on Friday, February 14th were paid a $0.29 dividend. This represents a $1.16 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 4.79%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, February 14th. Standard Motor Products's dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 100.81%.

Standard Motor Products Profile

Standard Motor Products, Inc manufactures and distributes replacement automotive parts in the United States and internationally. The company operates through three segments: Vehicle Control, Temperature Control, and Engineered Solutions segments. The company provides components for the ignition, emissions, and fuel delivery systems, such as air injection and induction components, air management valves, regulators and solenoids, exhaust gas recirculation components, fuel injectors and related components, fuel valves, ignition coils, connectors and sockets, modules, pumps, relays and fuses, starting and charging system parts, and vapor and purge components.